Are the U.S. East Coast's salt marshes healthy? How do sea ice patterns affect penguin populations in Antarctica? What diet do blue whales off California specialize in? Is every El Niño the same?

As the oceans continue to change in unprecedented ways, the annual Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) has become an important venue for exchanging new insights into these and other questions about marine ecosystems.

Co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography and The Oceanography Society, the 2018 OSM will be held Feb. 11-16 in Portland, Oregon.

BN21B-01: Global in situ imaging of large plankton and particles by the Underwater Vision Profiler in the upper kilometer of all oceans (California Current Ecosystem LTER)08:00-08:15 a.m. Oregon Convention Center -- D137-D138

BN34A-1140: Unravelling the Contribution of Large Phaeodaria (Rhizaria) to Silicon Fluxes: Insights from the California Current Ecosystem Long Term Ecological Research Site (California Current Ecosystem LTER)4:00-6:00 p.m. Oregon Convention Center -- Poster Hall

EP34B-0844: Spatial and Temporal Patterns in the Frequency of Sea-Surface Fronts in the California Current System (California Current Ecosystem LTER)4:00-6:00 p.m. Oregon Convention Center -- Poster Hall

CT51A-03: Molecular Imaging of the Community Metabolome of a Phytoplankton Bloom in the California Current Ecosystem (California Current Ecosystem LTER)08:30-08:45 a.m. Oregon Convention Center -- D135-D136

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2017, its budget is $7.5 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 48,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards.